Tuesday, July 27, 2010

m'fashnik (or for those of you who did not spend your adolescence with Buffy... COOKIES!)


or, as we say here in 'straya - biscuits!

not just any biscuits, these are fantastically chewy, overly chocolatey, crunchy with nuts, biscuit-shaped nirvana. and way too bloody easy.

I will add the disclaimer that these are really not at all good for you. Unless you have recently returned from starving in a third-world country and desperately need calories like our Julia needs a stylist. It's best to make them for other people (reserving only a precious few for eating at home) but that's really all you need... and the other people will pledge their undying fealty to you in return for the biscuits :)

Chunky Chewy Choc-chip Biscuits
(makes about 40)

pre-heat oven to 180 c

melt 185g butter (i use salted)

combine the following in a large bowl:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 & 1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup nuts, chopped roughly
(macadamias are particularly good, as are walnuts)

add
the melted butter
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla essence


stir in 200g of dark chocolate chips and mix the whole thing.

roll big teaspoon-fuls into balls and place on trays.
(hint: baking paper makes things crazy easy here)

bake for about 15 min.

If you are like me and prefer your bikkies a bit squooshy and under-done, bake till still a bit pale (10-15 mins)

If you are like Sarah, and must have everything burnt to some kind of nuclear crisp, leave them for 18-25 minutes.

Monday, July 19, 2010

agrodolce lentil salad with pancetta, feta and thyme

After picking up some tiny organic Puy (french green) lentils at Northey St markets a few weeks ago, I've been umming and ahhing over what to do with them and here's the result.

as always, all measurements are approximate.... taste as you go and change it as you see fit.

this is a juicy sweet and sour salad that's meaty enough to stand on it's own (though I ate mine with a crispy little veal schnitzel.)
It would also go down very well at a picnic.

for the lentils:
about 3/4 cup uncooked puy lentils (washed)
1 onion (quartered)
a few stalks of thyme
a few bay leaves

a bruised clove of garlic


all go into a saucepan.
Cover with plenty of cold water and bring to the boil.
Simmer covered for maybe 15-20 minutes until lentils are soft but not mushy.

Drain and remove all the extra bits, leaving only the lentils.

NB - at this point, you'd be hard pressed to pick the difference between these and a drained can of cooked lentils... do what you will with this information :)

For the salad bits:
cooked lentils
crumbled greek feta (a chunk about the size of an iphone)
fresh thyme (leaves from 4 or 5 sprigs)

big handful of torn flat-leaf parsley

handful of toasted pinenuts

5 slices of pancetta, crisped in the frypan and sliced roughly

5 french shallots - sliced and fried till sweet, creamy and golden in a bit of olive oil and more than a bit of butter

1 french shallot (raw) - sliced finely


mix this all in a bowl.

dress it all with...
juice of a lemon
sherry vinegar (a big splosh)
raspberry vinegar (the one i use is quite sweet)

a small glug of ev olive oil
juices from the frying of the shallots
salt and pepper

leave it for half an hour before eating to let the lentils suck up the flavours then devour with much gusto and take some to work the next day to torture your colleagues with.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

oh hi there.


well, like every other chick and her laptop, this is something I've been meaning to do for a while and when I finally came up with a silly name, I could make no more excuses!

Gastrono-Bree is primarily a food and cooking blog where I want to document those everyday (and not-so-everyday) culinary adventures. I love developing new recipes, reverse engineering amazing things I eat in restaurants and generally getting a bit creative with the whole thing. Also - I have recently quit smoking and find myself with a lot of extra energy to pour into projects (not to mention slowly recovering senses of taste and smell!!! (like pears! have you smelt the pears this year??? i'm serious. i leave a pear on my desk at work just to smell periodically throughout the day.. anyhoo, where were we?)

I buy fruit, veges and other produce at my local farmers markets every weekend, trying to stick with local and seasonal stuff that's not too expensive, but this isn't a hard and fast rule.

Like most people, I still find myself at the supermarket a few times a week, but i don't find myself as passionate about what i buy somehow :) Its as if the things i choose at the markets hold more weight/significance? I remember what i've bought and plan ways to use it throughout the week ('what will i do with that purple sweet potato? roast in duck fat with kipflers and a pork chop? or maybe a dandelion/watercress salad') whereas the plastic wrapped iceberg lettuce turns to brown gel in the bottom of the fridge. know what i mean? sometimes the food will be stupidly simple, sometimes, obsessively complex and sometimes it will be unashamedly trashy but hopefully always real, satisfying and happy :)